# Brought some beauties back from Panama...



## a2vr6 (Oct 28, 2006)

Took a trip to the Tre Islas duty free near Panama city to pick up some Palo Alto coffee and lo and behold, came across these (pics along with my pickup at the Costa cigar factory):










Here are some pics of Costa cigars near Anton:

Humidifaction room:









"Drying" room before they are shipped:










The off brand made with short filler (they were named Bucannero, not sure if they are related to the actual brand):









One of the rollers that has been rolling almost 20 years:










The Cedar wood covered room where the tobacco is aged for over 3 months:









Me acting like a kid in a candy store  (Fernando in the background, he used to work in one of the Upmann factories. From the little spanish I was able to speak he is the guy who blends and overlooks quality control of the cigars. The cigars "capo", "volado" and "seco" are imported (Nic/Honduran) but the capote and ligero leaves are cuban seed Panamanian.










BTW the costa cigars (especially the Maduro's) were excellent smokes, wished I had gotten some more.


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## SmokeyJoe (Oct 3, 2006)

Very cool... enjoyed the pics! :ss


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## SmokinApe (Jun 20, 2007)

Great pics!


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## Old Sailor (Jul 27, 2006)

Great pics, look like ya had a cool time!:tu:tu


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## Woogie (Mar 6, 2007)

Very cool, thanks for the pics.


Woogie


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## str8edg (Dec 30, 2007)

Kid in a candy store for sure.. looks like you had a great time. Thanks for the pics


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## bobarian (Oct 1, 2007)

Great pic's, looks like you had a great time!:tu


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## xibbumbero (Feb 20, 2006)

Thanx for the great pics. X:w


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## RHNewfie (Mar 21, 2007)

Thanks for the awesome pics!


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## Boston_Dude05 (Oct 10, 2006)

Have not come across Costa smokes yet. The wrappers on those look :dr


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## Harpo (Oct 11, 2007)

Wow, looks like you had a great time! Those Costas do indeed look tasty, what's the flavour profile on those bad boys? :tu


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## JRM (May 19, 2007)

Awesome pics. Thanks for sharing those. Looks like a great trip!


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## yazzie (Dec 1, 2007)

Very Cool, thanx for the neat pics:tu


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## LordOfWu (Dec 31, 2007)

Great pics, would love to read some reviews after you've smoked a few.


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## a2vr6 (Oct 28, 2006)

Harpo said:


> Wow, looks like you had a great time! Those Costas do indeed look tasty, what's the flavour profile on those bad boys? :tu


Really hard to say since I was smoking while I was on the beach and in the ocean . It is a really unique taste, you get a really nice sweetness from the maduro wrapper. I smoked a mareva of the natural and it was also just as good. I will light another up this week and post a review. If they are as good as the first two I am going to email Fernando and see if he can ship some to me. When he was showing me around we stopped by the storage room and showed me the shipments going out to the US. Many were also going to South American countries but no mention of Canada.

Here are some pics of the torpedoes, really quality rolling going on in the factory:


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## mustang1 (Oct 11, 2007)

Great pics and great haul man. Looks like you had a fantastic time escaping the frigid great white north.


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## ritan (Oct 16, 2007)

Looks like an awesome holiday. Thanks for sharing! :tu


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## dahigman (Jul 4, 2005)

I would love to tour a factory someday! Thanks for sharing the pics.

BTW, those probably were Bucanneros. They use Costa Rican tobacco in many of their cigars and they also have a bundle smoke that used mixed/short filler.


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## mike32312 (Jan 26, 2006)

I can't stop :dr :dr :dr over those pics. Thanks for sharing. :tu


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## a2vr6 (Oct 28, 2006)

PuffDaddy said:


> I would love to tour a factory someday! Thanks for sharing the pics.
> 
> BTW, those probably were Bucanneros. They use Costa Rican tobacco in many of their cigars and they also have a bundle smoke that used mixed/short filler.


Thats what Fernando mentioned.


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## Bear (Sep 22, 2007)

Nice haul Alex! Sure looks like you made some new friends down there!!!


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## TripleF (May 16, 2007)

mike32312 said:


> I can't stop :dr :dr :dr over those pics. Thanks for sharing. :tu


:tpd::tpd: I've never seen cigars like that before.


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## DragonMan (Dec 29, 2006)

Looks like you had a great trip Alex, thanks for the pictures!! :tu :tu

:ss


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## Tour De Cigar (Feb 26, 2007)

how come the pics are not showing.. all I see is a square with a red X in it... I wanna c...


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## chibnkr (May 2, 2007)

Great pictures and interesting story. Is this the right forum, though (Habanos Only Lounge) as these are not Habanos?


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## Bad Astronaut (Nov 11, 2007)

Wow great pics, its really cool to see the behind the scenes of it all, I guess I have always just taken it for granted.


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## a2vr6 (Oct 28, 2006)

chibnkr said:


> Great pictures and interesting story. Is this the right forum, though (Habanos Only Lounge) as these are not Habanos?


Come to think of it, probably not the right forum. But I figured the pic with the 2 Esplendido's and the Maduro 5 at the top should belong in the Habano's forums. :ss

Tour De Cigar
You should be able to see the pics. Clear your cache or try reloading the page a few times.


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## bonggoy (Mar 9, 2006)

a2vr6 said:


> Come to think of it, probably not the right forum. But I figured the pic with the 2 Esplendido's and the Maduro 5 at the top should belong in the Habano's forums. :ss
> 
> Tour De Cigar
> You should be able to see the pics. Clear your cache or try reloading the page a few times.


Those are Esplendido? A bit strange band.


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## chibnkr (May 2, 2007)

a2vr6 said:


> Come to think of it, probably not the right forum. But I figured the pic with the 2 Esplendido's and the Maduro 5 at the top should belong in the Habano's forums. :ss
> 
> Tour De Cigar
> You should be able to see the pics. Clear your cache or try reloading the page a few times.


Based on the band, I can pretty much assure you that those are not Esplendidos. And based on the fact that they were acquired in Panama...I'd be a bit suspect to begin with. Not trying to be a PITA, just figured that you might want to know.


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## RPB67 (Mar 26, 2005)

That is a nice sea of cigars.

Looks like they have a great stock there.


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## dayplanner (Dec 11, 1997)

a2vr6 said:


> Here are some pics of the torpedoes, really quality rolling going on in the factory:


Those are some beuatifull torpedos! :dr

Thanks for the pics! Though I must agree with chibankr, the esplendidos look, well, unesplendido like.


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## Benzopyrene (Jun 5, 2007)

Looks like you really did have a lot of fun! Cheers!


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## Todd W (Jan 9, 2008)

I love those bundle pics. Thanks for sharing!:cb


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## cigarflip (Jul 4, 2004)

chibnkr said:


> Based on the band, I can pretty much assure you that those are not Esplendidos. And based on the fact that they were acquired in Panama...I'd be a bit suspect to begin with. Not trying to be a PITA, just figured that you might want to know.


:tpd:


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